Orange mango soup

With mangoes on sale 2/$1 a few weeks ago, I scoured the internet for some different recipes to use mangoes in, other than my stand by, mango salsa.  We tried strawberry mango daiquiris, and orange mango soup.  My kids thought it was funny to eat cold soup; so did I until I discovered strawberry soup; now I'm a huge fan of summer soups!  Here's the recipe:

2 tsp honey

1 1/2 cups OJ (I used fresh because I had it, pulp added in)

3 ripe mangos

1 1/2 c buttermilk

lemon juice to taste

throw all in a blender and blend til smooth.  Let sit in fridge for several hours to let flavors ripen and serve cold.  I didn't have time to let it sit.  We ate it immediately, and I topped each serving with a sprinkling of nutmeg.

Recipe for strawberry mango daiquiris:
3 strawberries

½ c white grape juice, or similar juice
1-2 tsp rum extract
2 limes, juiced
2 Tb sugar
2 c ice
1 c mango

Throw all in a blender and blend until smooth.  We loved this!

Broadway Blast '10

Savannah's choir participated in her school's Broadway blast again this year.  I had a lot of fun finding new and fancy ways of doing her hair every night.  Usually she won't let me touch it, as she has a very soft head, but she allowed it for her performances, and, with some help from this Princess hair blog, I found some 'do's that I could actually do. (No French braiding required!)  The only problem was how much like a teenager she looked with her hair and make-up done!

Isn't she beautiful?

Fairy cupcakes

I made these chocolate and strawberry cupcakes for my sister-in-law's twin girls, who had a fairy birthday party last week.  I just LOVE cupcakes!  Planning for them, baking them, frosting them, accessorizing them, photographing them, and eating them!

Don't they look so fancy in their pearls?

Fun with squares

Brighton and I did a follow-up to our circle lunch with a square lunch.  This is all I came up with.  I found circles were much easier to produce.  Triangles are gonna be a challenge!

Rockabye baby

One Sunday, while cuddling a sleepy Keaton on the couch, I had to call Scott in to snap a few pictures of Waverly.  She has surprised me and developed a love of dolls, which neither of her sisters did.  I shouldn't really care, but it tickles me to see her take after me in some small way.  Scott picked up this old, junker child rocker at a garage sale when Brighton was a baby, and our kids have loved it.  I need to recover it in something cute, but it's on the list of "some day projects."

Family spring pictures 2010

Since we moved into our house several years ago, it has become a tradition to take spring/Easter family pictures outside in this spot.  One day I'd like to put together a collage side/by/side and watch how our family grows year by year (we only had 2 kids when we first started this!)

I sure love my girls.  They were not excited by taking pictures after late church, so I didn't get any really great smiles out of them, but I'll take what I can get!

Brighton, in trying to be helpful, was holding Keaton in place.  Ah, brotherly love!

And my twins.  So much fun to have 2 babies.  I finally got Waverly's skirt completed (I loved how it turned out, with the exception of being too long, which I'll need to fix.)

Girls' night in

A couple of weeks ago our ward had their father and son's campout.  Scott took Brighton for the night.  He was SO excited to go on a date with just Scott.  I took the opportunity to plan a fun night for all my girls left at home (plus Keaton--he can go next year!)

First we made pizza bubble bread.  This was a staple from my teenage girls' night outs.  It's just quartered canned biscuits, coated in pizza sauce, put on a cookie sheet, and topped with pizza toppings.  Fast and easy pizza, plus it's great for kids because it pulls apart into bite-size pieces.  Savannah made this herself!  It was very good.  Plus we added cream soda, which is a huge treat in our house, as pop is only used for sick days and marinating.

Keaton didn't want to eat his own, but it sure tasted good off of Irelynd's fork!

Next, I sent the older girls up for a soak/splash fest in our big bathtub while I put the twins to bed.  This is usually reserved for birthdays only, so it was a big deal to them.

After the resulting flood was cleaned up, they came back down for indoor s'mores (can't let the boys have all the fun!), and a movie.  We watched Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, as Savannah had just finished the book the week before.

I learned marshmallows don't melt too well in an electric oven.

Somehow, I didn't end up with any pictures of Savannah, other than the bathtub.  I enjoyed the night with my girls.  I realized we need to plan more of these in the future, while they still enjoy being with me.
Here's Irelynd's version of our night:  WARNING: for those of you who haven't read the books or seen HP 6, there are some spoilers in the following story!

My weekend was sooooo fun!  On Saturday, we had a GIRLS NIGHT OUT and we watched Harry Potter 6!  But Dumbledor, the head master died!  I was about to cry because I was so sad.  But, my dad and brother went to fathers and sons.  We were going to have peticures and manicures but, we didn't have time.

Quotables from the circus

Me to Brighton "Boo!"
Brighton, "Mom, you scared my brains out!  They ran away, you scared me so much!"

Me to Brighton, "if you get scared at night you can say a prayer to Heavenly Father and He will help you not feel scared."
Brighton: "Heavenly Father can't come help me now because he has to go put his jammies on and go to bed.  His mom says it's time to go to bed."

Me to Savannah, "We need to talk about what happens when you grow up."  {yeah, the school maturation program sped up my timeline on this subject.}
Savannah: "is this 'The Talk' that I hear everyone talk about so much?" {thankfully, no; that can wait still a little longer!}

Irelynd: "Mom, do they use gasoline to make chapstick?"
Me: "um, no; where'd you hear that?"
Irelynd: "my friend at school said I needed to put gasoline on my lips to help them not be chapped."
Me: "um, do you mean vaseline?"
Irelynd: "ohhhhh"

Our Field Trip, by Irelynd Henry

Dear Mom,
On Wednesday {2 weeks ago}, we went on a field trip!  We went to the Krishna Temple!  We got to feed, walk, and race some lamas after we met our tour guide.  She had a bird named Peaches.  He was a little bit lighter than the sunset at the beginning for color.  We went and did a lot of hard and relaxing yoga too.  My favorite parts were the gift shop and the 3 year old parrakeet.  Guess what the funniest little thing did when we stuck our finger in the cage?  Bite goes it's beak on our fingers!  ha ha ha!  It was so cool when it hung by one of it's fingers only!  I mean--not a single centamenter of my brain thought s/he could!  Oh, and don't even get me started on the gift shop!  So cool things is all that was there!  I mean---LOOOVE it!

Your daughter,
Irelynd

Recipes

Here are the recipes from the cinco de Mayo party:

Annies Fruit salsa and cinnamon chips

2 kiwis, peeled and diced
2 Golden delicious apples, cored, peeled and diced
1 pound strawberries
8 ounces raspberries
2 TB white sugar
1 TB brown sugar
3 TB jam, any flavor
10 (10 inch) flour tortillas
butter flavor Pam
2 c cinnamon sugar

In a large bowl, mix cut up fruit (gently break apart raspberries in half), sugars, and jam.  Cover and chill in fridge to let flavors mix.
Heat oven to 350.  Coat one side of each flour tortilla with Pam.  Cut into wedges and arrange in a single layer on a cookie sheet.  Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and spray again with Pam.
Bake for 8-10 mins.  Repeat with remaining tortillas.  Cool and serve with salsa.

***cook's note:  this is the way the recipe reads.  When I make my salsa, I use any apples I have on hand, usually fuji or braeburn.  I don't see too much of a difference.  You can substitute frozen berries for fresh, if neccessary, though fresh is better.  For the batch I made on Saturday, I doubled it, used frozen raspberry/blackberry blend, and used Scott's homemade green tomato jam.  It gave it a slightly different flavor than normal.  I prefer strawberry jam. 
The easiest and quickest way to do the chips is to lay a tortilla flat on a cookie sheet.  Spray with Pam.  Lay another on top and spray.  Repeat for about 5 tortillas.  Then cut into wedges with a pizza cutter.  Dump your cinnamon sugar in a ziploc bag and shake your Pam-coated tortilla wedges in the bag, Shake-n-bake style.  It will coat both sides, but, it's SO MUCH FASTER!  Throw them on the tray and spray again with Pam.  I had to sprinkle a little more sugar on them from the bag; the first batch done came out just cinnamon-covered.  Bake for 10 mins for a crispier chip (I hate them soft, don't you?)

Fried Ice Cream
1 cube butter, melted
2 1/2 c rice krispies
1 c walnuts or pecans, crushed
1 1/4 c coconut
3/4 c brown sugar

Mix all ingredients.  Spread in a 9x13 pan.  Bake at 300 for 30 mins.  Cool completely.  Crumble slightly (mixture will stick together in one big sheet) and sprinkle half on the bottom of cake pan.  Spread 1/2 gallon vanilla ice cream on top.  Top with remaining nut mixture.  Freeze til firm.
Serve with hot fudge sauce, caramel, whip cream, etc.
***cook's note:  I'm bad at substituting.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.  I subbed crushed corn chex for the rice crispies, since that's what I had. 

Hot fudge sauce (from Get off your butt and bake.com)
1 can condensed milk
1 stick butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips

Melt in a saucepan until smooth.  Store in fridge. 

Caramel sauce (from Ivory Family Favorites/Make a Wish cookbook)
4 TB butter
1 1/4 c brown sugar
2/3 c light corn syrup
3/4 c evaporated milk

Melt butter in pan; add brown sugar and corn syrup.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and cook, stirring constantly, to soft-ball stage (use a candy thermometer).  Remove from heat and stir in evaporated milk. 


Cafe Rio Chicken (in ward cookbook, submitted by Kristin Koyle)
1 small bottle zesty Italian dressing
1 TB chili powder
1 TB cumin
3 cloves garlic, minced
5 lbs chicken breast

Cook all together in a crock pot for 4 hours.  Shred meat and cook 1 additional hour.

***cook's note:  this makes a BUNCH.  I didn't increase the recipe at all, and it fed 18+ with leftovers.  I used a big bottle of dressing.  I used half to cook in, and I added the rest after I shredded the chicken in order to keep it moist.  But it was in the crock pot for 6 hours or more.

Cafe Rio dressing (same as above)
1 buttermilk ranch dressing packet (make as per recipe)
2 tomatillos
1/2 bunch cilantro
1 clove garlic
juice of 1 lime
1 jalapeno (I used canned)

Add all to blender and blend til smooth.

Update:  Oops, forgot the daiquiris:)

Strawberry daiquiris

1 lb. fresh or frozen strawberries
1 can frozen limeade
rum extract
ice cubes

This recipe is to taste; I used a capful of rum for the above measurements, and a cupful of ice.  Dump all in blender and blend well.

Mom's Red Hat party

My mom turned 75 earlier this month.  To celebrate, we planned her a Red Hat party.  My older sister Patti made the cute invitations below.  My sister Michelle flew in from CA.  I haven't seen in in over a year, so it was wonderful to have her come "home" for it.  My sister's family came over as well from WY.  It was so much fun to have all the girls together!  The party was a no kids/no hubbies event.  {they were invited on Sunday for Mother's Day, so don't feel bad for them!}

We started off by decorating our hats, all red of course, with purple and white flowers.  Savannah and Irelynd were invited as granddaughters.  They were very excited to be included with the "grown-ups."

 I think the contrast between these two pictures is funny.  They capture both my girls' personalities to a tee: I have a drama queen on one hand, and a sweet, shy little lady on the other.  You'll have to figure out which is which...

My two adorable neices.  Aren't they beautiful???

This was the whole gang.  We went out to dinner in our red hats.  We were fabulous!

Me and 3 of my 4 sisters.  {We were missing our oldest sister.  Wish she could have come too!}

Mom and her granddaughters.  {Well, a few of them, anyway!}

So cute, isn't she?

This one, too.  OK, so I'm a little biased...

Everyone at dinner at Mimi's Cafe.

After dinner we came back to my mom's for dessert and games.  Some of us spent the night there.  I was in charge of the treats/favors, and was so excited to do this candy buffet!  Can I just say how rare purple candy is?  Ok, not rare, but it always comes with a rainbow of fruit flavors {and colors}.  I spent 20 minutes picking out the purple and red Runts from Macey's bulk candy bins.  Ssshhh!  I was very happy with the end result; hence the myriad of pictures following...

Another view...

Oh, and another...

I had to make sure I got a close up of my cupcake bites.  Aren't they cute all dressed up in red and purple? 

About to be devoured by the raving candy-holics behind me.  The long purple things in the cans are dipped pirouette cookies.  I dipped pretzels and marshmallow pops, too.  Love candy melts!

Ok, last one, I promise.

We played left, right, center.  It was funny watching everyone get so excited when they got to stay in the game.

We sang happy birthday to my mom.  {But notice my sister's tongue off to the left!  She's gonna kill me for posting this!}

Because of all the May birthdays, we passed the cake around and sang to multiple people.  Here, Michelle rearranges the numbers to read "57".  Not close to her real age, but closer than 75!

Michelle made this amazing quilt for our mom.

I think Julie wants one, too!

It was such a fun party!  Too bad it came and went so quickly!  Thanks Patti and Michelle for all your time and money that went into putting it together!  Love you guys!

Cinco de Mayo party

We celebrated Cinco de Mayo this year with our book club friends.  We are so blessed to have such great people in our ward to hang out with!  We have a lot of fun together.

Here's the whole crew.  We were able to squeeze all 18 of us at one table this time.  It was cozy, but fun!

We had Cafe Rio salads.  Yummm.

Strawberry daiquiris; can't forget the umbrellas!

And here's the table before sitting down.

Before dinner everyone had to name the famous faces of South America (there just aren't that many from just Mexico!)  Afterwards we played Mexican Win, Lose, or Draw, boys against girls.  {girls won, of course, even with some cheatin' goin' on by the boys}.  Then we played Buzzword before dessert of fried ice cream.  It was a fun night!  Thanks, everyone, for coming and making it fun!